


There's a spark in your center (that's piercing me in)

by MYuzuki



Series: No matter what’s in front of me (I’ll keep fighting til I’ve won) [13]
Category: Final Fantasy XV, Kingsglaive
Genre: (in his defense he has a lot on his mind), Cor & Nyx grab lunch, Cor is Very Observant, Developing Friendships, Gen, Nyx has not realized the full ramifications of that yet, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26340766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: "Why were you at the barracks?" Cor asks Nyx, and arches an eyebrow at the vaguely rueful expression he gets in response.
Relationships: Cor Leonis & Nyx Ulric
Series: No matter what’s in front of me (I’ll keep fighting til I’ve won) [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897525
Comments: 8
Kudos: 140





	There's a spark in your center (that's piercing me in)

**There's a spark in your center (that's piercing me in)**

* * *

"Why were you at the barracks?" Cor asks Nyx, and arches an eyebrow at the vaguely rueful expression he gets in response.

"Ah, well." Nyx fiddles with his fork, the pasta dish in front of him seemingly forgotten. "Just wanted to check in with everyone, you know? See how they're all feeling about… _everything_." He gestures vaguely with the fork. "I mean, between the ceasefire and the fact that our commander turned out to be General Glauca, a lot of them aren't sure if the Kingsglaive is the right place to be at the moment."

Cor considers that, even as he takes a sip of his lemonade to hide his frown. "They want to leave?"

Nyx shifts in his seat, looking uncomfortable. "Honestly? Some of them do, yeah. Some of them feel like the ceasefire is a betrayal; that we've been fighting all this time for nothing, if the King is just going to agree to a conditional surrender and give up on reclaiming the other Lucian territories. They feel like they shouldn't have to stay and fight for him, if the promise that they're fighting for has already been broken."

Cor's frown deepens, and he scrubs a hand down his face. "Well, if it helps at all, Regis is reconsidering the ceasefire now that Drautos has been exposed as a traitor. He seems to feel that, since Glauca himself had managed to infiltrate the inner circle of leadership, the ceasefire was proposed with ulterior motives and cannot be trusted."

Something like relief tinged with visceral satisfaction and a fragile sort of hope washes across Nyx's expression. "Good to know," he says, voice rough.

"What did you tell them? The Glaives you were speaking to," Cor elaborates when all Nyx does is give him a blank look.

"Oh, that." Nyx looks faintly self-conscious before giving a slight shrug. "Nothing important, really, we were just talking. I wanted to know how they felt about things, and they wanted to know how I felt, so we were talking it out. Discussing what might come next, and what we want in the future. Why we're here, and whether those reasons are worth staying for. And a lot of the newer recruits were worried about our organization as a whole taking heat for Drautos being a traitor," he adds, mouth twisting into a grimace. "They wanted some reassurance that we weren't all about to be thrown into the dungeons."

"And you gave it to them," Cor states, because it's not a question; he'd seen Nyx with his fellow Glaives, had seen him patiently listening to their words and offering them his thoughts, had seen them relax by degrees as he'd spoken with them.

Nyx shrugs again, looking almost embarrassed. "I tried," he replies, stabbing his fork into his food with a tad more force than is probably necessary for carbonara. "And I guess it helped a little. They didn't seem quite as ready to go AWOL, at least. It's still a fucking mess, though," he mutters. "I'm sure Drautos-" He cuts himself off with a scowl, shaking his head. "I'm sure _Glauca_ ," he says instead, tone bitter and biting, "managed to get his hooks into other Glaives besides Lazarus. And if the Kingsglaive is going to be a fully functional fighting force again, those people would need to be rooted out; right now everyone's looking over their shoulder for the next traitor, and that's no way to operate."

"You've given this a lot of thought," Cor remarks, a flicker of surprise sparking in his chest, because Drautos had only been arrested two days previously and even Regis and Clarus are barely sussing out the ramifications of what's transpired (although in fairness, they're also preoccupied with whatever Niflheim's planning in the wake of this latest development).

Nyx gives a short bark of a laugh, startled and wry. "Not nearly as much as I should have," he says, tone self-deprecating in a way that implies that Cor's missing out on some sort of inside joke.

Cor considers Nyx for a long moment, the silence between them a vaguely expectant one but not necessarily uncomfortable.

He looks at Nyx, and considers everything he knows so far.

A Galahdian Glaive, fierce and clever and loyal to the point that it's almost painful. A Glaive who had uncovered treachery in his own ranks, from his own commander no less, and who had immediately thrown his entire being into uprooting that treachery. A Glaive who looks around at the city of Insomnia like he's never seen it before despite living there for years, staring in wonder at the skyscrapers, sleek roads, and bustling crowds as if in awe of the fact that they're there.

A Glaive who somehow has magic running under his skin like a live-wire, an echo of the power that Regis possesses thanks to his bloodline and the ring on his finger. Power that should, according to everything Cor knows, only be available to members of the Lucian royal family; throughout the course of history, anyone else who has ever tried to wield the power of the Lucii has failed and perished for the attempt.

It isn't possible for Nyx Ulric to have the magic of the Lucii. Cor knows that.

And yet as impossible as it seems, Nyx _does_ have that power; Cor knows that, too.

Because many members of the Kingsglaive are capable of channeling the _King's_ magic, drawing on Regis's wellspring of power via the oaths of loyalty they'd sworn to their monarch, but whatever is going on with Nyx is decidedly different. Cor knows that as well, because even though he's got little talent for channeling magic himself he trusts Regis and Regis says that it's different. Says that the ancient kings had spoken to him, had spoken of the power laced throughout Nyx's body.

Nyx who had all but fled from the throne room when the Ring of the Lucii had started shining with a mystical light.

Cor had moved to follow after him, concerned and curious and vaguely alarmed because Nyx Ulric hadn't struck him as man who ran away from _anything_ , only to be stopped by Regis, who called after him, the light fading from the ring as he spoke

"Wait a moment, Cor," the King had said. "I'd like to speak to you privately, before you go." And he'd gone on to share what the Kings of Old had shared with him, knowledge of the power contained within the Ring of the Lucii. Of how that power is that of the ancient kings, how it can only be granted by a boon of their making.

And how they do not recall granting their power to anyone in such a way.

And yet surely such a thing must have happened, because the inescapable truth of the matter is right in front of him, in the shape of Nyx Ulric.

(Cor doesn't generally have the patience for puzzles, but this is one he's motivated to solve.)


End file.
